


Hug Me

by mylifeissocoollike



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, also i chose teen and up cause of swears, and there's only hint of wolfstar but i thought that i should tag it anyway, free hugs, hug me, okay so it's mostly just james and lily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 06:23:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4128162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylifeissocoollike/pseuds/mylifeissocoollike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James is giving out free hugs and meets Lily.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hug Me

**Day One**

“James this is insane,” Sirius said as they got off the subway and made their way onto the street above.

“You’re just saying that because you don’t like physical contact,” James teased.

“That’s not true.”

“Yeah! He does like _some_ physical contact,” Remus said. James and Peter looked at each other and made gagging faces while Remus snickered.

“Anyway, I don’t care what you think, Sirius. It’s a social experiment I’m doing for my psychology class,” James explained for the sixth time that day.

“And I’m going to film it as a project for my film making class,” Remus added.

“So why are Peter and I here?”

“I think it’d be fun to watch,” Peter said.

“And _you_ don’t like being in the flat by yourself,” Remus said. Sirius rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything as he watched his friends set up a spot on the sidewalk. They had come all the way to Piccadilly Circus for James’ little experiment.

“How is this going to work again?” Peter asked as Remus got his camera ready.

“First I’m going to set up this sign. Then stand here blindfolded, with my arms outstretched and we’ll see what happens,” James said. He was a little nervous but his professor had already approved the project so there was no going back now.

The sign read: _I trust you, do you trust me? HUG ME._ He had even added a smiley face to the sign for good measure.

“Ok I’m ready,” Remus said. James nodded and they got to work.

\--

“When do we get to quit working at that damn place?” Mary asked.

“When we finish uni and get the jobs we’re going to school for,” Lily said.

They had just gotten off the lunch shift at work and were navigating their way through the crowds of tourists at Piccadilly. As they got closer to the subway entrance, Lily noticed that there was a larger than average crowd gathered around something.

“What do you think that is?” she asked.

“Probably some moron trying to get a few quid for doing magic tricks or something equally stupid.”

Odds were Mary was right, but Lily had always been a curious person. She grabbed her friend’s hand and dragged her through the crowd. When they broke through the throng she was surprised to see a blindfolded bloke offering free hugs.

“See? I told you it was something stupid,” Mary whispered.

Lily watched as The Hugger laughed and exchanged words with the various strangers who accepted his hugs. He looked about her age and there was another, whom she assumed was with him, filming the whole thing. Perhaps it was a performance? Or a demonstration?

“Let’s go hug him,” Lily said.

“Are you crazy?”

“I might be.”

“Lily I’m not going to let you go hug that guy all by yourself!”

“That’s why I said _let’s_ hug him!”

Mary groaned but she stepped forward with Lily and together they wrapped their arms around The Hugger. He was warm for someone who had been standing outside for who knew how long and he was taller and stronger than she’d expected. For some reason Lily didn’t want to let go, but Mary was already pulling away.

“Have a nice day,” he said as they backed away from him. His smile was even lovelier up close.

**Day Two**

“Lily, did you see the tosser who’s out there offering free hugs?” Marlene asked as she sat down at their table.

“It’s nice to see you too Marlene,” Lily grumbled.

“Oh hush I saw you like a week ago, now answer my question!”

“Of course I saw him, how can you miss him? Plus, he was there yesterday too.”

“Have you hugged him?”

“Yes, Mary and I hugged him together. Did you hug him?”

“No he’s not really my type.”

“I don’t really think that’s the point of whatever it is he’s doing.”

Marlene waved off Lily’s comment and they began catching up. Lily loved her weekly lunch date with Marlene and was happy to see her, but her mind couldn’t stop wandering during the hour they were together. She kept thinking of The Hugger. She wondered what his story was. Why was he hugging strangers? Why was he doing it two days in a row?

After they left the restaurant, Lily and Marlene parted ways. Lily needed to get home and feed her cat. Or that was what she told Marlene anyway to get out of shopping. It had begun to drizzle and as she walked toward the subway Lily told herself that The Hugger wouldn’t still be there in this weather. She was wrong.

\--

“Glad we wore our rain coats, aren’t we boys?” James joked.

“We should go home,” Peter said.

“I second that,” said Sirius.

“Let’s wait for a little longer,” James said. He knew that the crowd would thin out as it began to rain and he wanted to see how many people would actually stop to hug him while it was raining.

“I brought rain gear for the camera so we can stay awhile longer,” Remus said.

“It’s settled then!”

“Fuck you guys, come on Peter let’s go sit in that pub. I’m not trying to catch a bloody cold standing in the rain.”

“I’m not trying to catch a cold either James,” Remus said after they left.

“We’ll just stay out here for fifteen minutes. I can use the footage and compare how many hugs I got in fifteen minutes when it wasn’t raining versus when it was.”

So they stood there and waited. James could hear footsteps splashing through puddles. Everyone was passing him by. He was beginning to think that no one would stop in this weather. Until finally, he heard one person stop in front of him.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hello,” a girl’s voice replied. She wrapped her arms around him and he had a strange feeling that he had hugged this girl before. He could tell that his chin could rest perfectly on her head- although he wouldn’t do that because that would be _totally_ creepy. The smell of her shampoo seemed familiar, as did the slow, almost reluctant way she released him.

“Have a nice day,” he said.

“You too,” she replied.

“Fifteen minutes are up,” Remus said.

James took off his blindfold as fast as he could but she was already gone.

**Day Three**

The next day, Remus and James were in their lounge, going over footage and trying to decide if James could gather enough information for his project from what they had. Their time filming had been cut short by the rain the day before and they weren’t sure if they should go back out and finish or not.

“Hey James, look at this,” Remus said. James looked at the computer screen and shrugged.

“What am I looking at Remus?”

“This is footage from day one, side by side with footage from yesterday,” he said. “That girl who hugged you in the rain? She hugged you on day one too. I knew I recognized her…”

James looked at the screen closer and realized that this was indeed the same girl. On the first day she had hugged him with a friend, but yesterday… yesterday she had hugged him alone in the rain when no one else had.

“Have you noticed any one else hug me more than once in all your footage?”

“No.” They looked at each other and some sort of understanding passed between them.

“Hey Peter! Sirius! We’re going out one last time, care to join!?” James yelled.

“No!”

“ _Hell_ no!”

 --

Mary was Lily’s replacement when she got off her shift at four that afternoon. Before she could leave, Mary cornered her and said, “I saw that man out there again when I was on my way here. Don’t go hugging him alone.”

“Honestly, Mary you act like he’s some serial killer.”

“He could be!” she exclaimed. Lily laughed and gave her friend a reassuring pat on the head. She left work and headed toward the place where she knew The Hugger would be.

As she approached him she saw a smaller crowd than the first day. _People are losing interest that fast?_ she wondered. This time she stood with a couple of onlookers and just watched as other people hugged him. She stood there and observed The Hugger and his cameraman. Finally, when she sensed the moment was right, she walked forward and hugged him.

She didn’t even know why she was here again. It was crazy. She had hugged him before, surely no one would keep coming back to hug this random bloke in the street. Yet, Lily was comfortable when she was folded in his arms. Who knew that she could have this kind of connection with a stranger? Granted, he was a stranger she had hugged twice already, but she didn’t even know his name for Christ’s sake!

She wasn’t sure how long they hugged each other. It was like she was in a daze. One which she wasn’t pulled out of until she heard the cameraman announcing to the crowd that that would be all for the day. They were leaving.

\--

James pulled away from the girl when he heard Remus’ announcement. They had discussed beforehand that if the girl should show up again, she would be the last hug of the day. He quickly pulled off his blindfold, hoping more than anything that she would still be there.

She was.

“Hi,” he said. He couldn’t contain the grin that broke out across his face when he saw her smiling up at him.

“Hi.”

“I believe we’ve met before?”

“I believe we have.”

“And can you tell me why you hugged me more than once?”

“Can you tell me why you’re standing in the square, giving out free hugs?”

James laughed and said, “That’s a fair question- I’m doing a social experiment for my psychology course.”

“So you’re not a tosser then?”

“No, I’m James.” That got a laugh out of her and it was a sound that set off a chain reaction in him. He suddenly hoped that he would continue to hear it for the rest of his life.

“Nice to meet you James, I’m Lily.”

**Day Four**

“Lily this is insane,” Mary said as she helped Lily finish getting ready for her date with James. The bastard had arrived ten minutes early and was sitting awkwardly in their lounge. Lily didn’t mind- it was kind of cute.

“Oh Mary, lighten up.”

“You don’t even know him!”

“Of course I do. We sat in the pub together for like three hours yesterday.”

“Wasn’t his friend there?”

“Yes, his name is Remus.”

“I just don’t know. He was giving out free hugs on the street. Doesn’t that mean he’s at least a tad insane?”

“No, it means he’s trusting… and kind… and a people person… and scholarly… I told you it was for an experiment right?”

“Yeah, yeah, stop going on about him and get your arse out there.”

Lily hugged Mary and cheekily whispered, “Don’t wait up.” She had a hard time trying not to laugh at her friend’s expression. It wasn’t until she entered the lounge and saw James that she pulled herself together.

He had brought her a bouquet of daisies.

“Well that’s a first,” she said, as she accepted the bouquet from him and quickly kissed him on the cheek. She busied herself putting them in a vase and tried not to smirk at how red James’ face was.

“What’s a first?” he finally asked.

“Guys always bring me lilies on the first date.”

“Well that’s just unoriginal.”

“I know! Plus I don’t even like them that much.”

“Well I’m glad I could switch things up a bit. Are you ready to go?”

Lily nodded and they left the flat and started walking toward the restaurant. Their conversation picked up effortlessly from where they left off the day before and it was like they had never been apart. Something inside of her almost forgot what it was like when she _didn’t_ know James Potter. She felt like everything in her life so far had been leading up to that moment.

“You look beautiful, by the way,” James said quietly.

“Thank you.” She smiled and reached for his hand. It was a perfect fit.


End file.
